


Divine Intervention

by Kymbersmith90



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Hunters, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, CSSNS, Captain Swan Supernatural Summer, F/M, Supernatural Elements, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-16
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2019-06-28 02:43:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15698490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kymbersmith90/pseuds/Kymbersmith90
Summary: Brothers Liam and Killian Jones are on the hunt for their father, Brennan Jones, who has gone missing in his hunt for the supernatural creature that killed their mother. But along the way, the brothers discover that the supernatural world is much bigger than they could ever have imagined.And someone else has big plans for one of them.The Supernatural AU absolutely nobody asked for, but probably took me long enough to actually write.





	1. Chapter 1

**Storybrooke, Maine**

**22 Years Ago**

“Say goodnight to your brother, Killian,” Alice instructed, as she set the young boy down on his feet.

Killian ran over to the small crib in the middle of the room, pulling himself up to see his baby brother lying inside of it. Little Liam was waving his hands in the air, occasionally sucking on one of his fists before he went back to waving them around again.

“Good night, Liam,” Killian called down to him, leaning over to press a kiss to his brother’s cheek. Alice made her way over to her eldest son’s side, leaning in to press her own kiss to Liam’s forehead as she wished her baby boy sweet dreams.

“Come on, Killian. Let’s get you to bed. Daddy’s waiting for you.”

Brennan was already perched on the floor by his son’s bed, with Killian’s favorite book in hand, as his son bounced into the space and climbed up under the sheets. Alice watched from the doorway as her husband finished reading the last chapter in the book they had been engrossed in all week, while Killian slowly lost his battle with exhaustion and fell soundly asleep. When Brennan finally finished the book, he sat it back down onto the small shelf by Killian’s bed, and she moved forward to tuck the covers around their sleeping son.

Pressing a kiss to his forehead she whispered, “Sleep well, Baby. The angels will watch over you tonight.”

* * *

Alice rolled over in bed as she heard the static noise coming through the baby monitor, followed by Liam’s soft whimpers. She gave the small device a slap with the side of her hand, hoping to clear the audio. But the static simply continued. Her husband wasn’t in bed beside her, which meant that he’d probably fallen asleep on the couch again, so she couldn’t ask him to go and check on their son.

She sighed as she slipped out of the bed, passing Killian’s room to make her way into Liam’s nursery. The dark figure of her husband’s form standing over their son’s crib never failed to make her heart soar.

Brennan was such a good father.

“Is he hungry?” she called out softly.

Her husband sent a small shush back to her, and Alice took that as her cue that whatever had caused Liam to fuss was no longer an issue, now that his daddy was in the room.

As she made her way back to bed, her attention was pulled to the flickering light at the very end of the hallway. She reached out to tap at the glass shade a couple of times, hoping that would fix the problem.

The light flickered once… twice more, before it finally stopped.

Which just happened to be the moment that Alice heard a noise from somewhere downstairs.

A frown creased her brow as she headed for the staircase, hoping that it was just another stray cat that had somehow found its way into the old building.

But as she made it to the bottom of the steps, the first thing her eyes landed on was the television. It was still showing some old baseball documentary, and perfectly illuminating her husband’s sleeping form.

“Liam?” she called out, spinning on her heels. She took the stairs two at a time, rushing up them and towards the room her baby boy was resting in.

The other figure was still standing over her son’s crib when she arrived at the doorway.

* * *

Brennan bolted awake at the sound of his wife’s blood-curdling screams.

“Alice?” he yelled out, springing up from his chair. “ _Alice_?”

He took the stairs as fast as he could, bypassing every closed door on the first floor until he flung open the one for Liam’s nursery.

“Alice?” he called out once more, panting a little from the physical exertion.

Liam was wide awake in his bed, cooing softly as he kicked out his arms and feet.

Brennan made his way over to the little boy’s side, asking softly, “Hey Liam. Are you okay?” A small smile pulled at his lips as the baby turned bright blue eyes his way, smiling up at his daddy.

The first drop landed just to the left of Liam’s face.

Brennan reached out to run his fingers through it, pulling them away to find them stained red.

The second landed on the back of his hand.

His eyes widened in horror as he realized what he was looking at before he turned them up to the ceiling above him.

“Oh god, no. Alice,” he cried, falling backward with his shock.

His wife’s body was somehow stuck to the ceiling of the nursery, her abdomen bleeding profusely from the wound that had been inflicted there, as her dead eyes stared down at him, wide with her own horror.

The moment Brennan realized what he was looking at was the moment the inferno began, engulfing his wife’s body quickly.

Liam began to scream from his place in the crib, his little face screwed up with his tears as the room began to heat up. Brennan snatched the boy from his bed quickly, before running from the room. Killian was making his way out of his own, looking thoroughly confused by all of the noise.

“I need you to take your brother outside as fast as you can. Don’t look back,” Brennan told the scared young boy, as he eased Liam down into his arms. “Now, Killian! Go!”

Even though Killian was clearly terrified, Brennan watched on with pride as his son did exactly as he had been instructed to do, before he turned back to the nursery that was rapidly filling with flames. He wanted to save his wife. He needed to save his wife. But it was becoming apparent that it was never gonna happen.

With one more longing look at the spot that he’d last seen her in, Brennan turned on his heels and ran.

Killian was stood on their lawn, far too close to the house to be safe, when he made it to the front door. Brennan didn’t hesitate to sweep his boys up and into his arms, to carry them away from their home just before the fire triggered an explosion in the nursery.

“Mom?” Killian called out, as his own eyes began to fill with tears.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you,” Brennan assured him, as he held his boys close.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Thank you for your wonderful response to the prologue. This one should update now every other Wednesday, as long as life doesn't get in the way.**

**Boston, Massachusetts**  
**22 Years later**

Liam sighed in his sleep as his arm tightened around Elsa, pulling her into his chest a little closer. Something had disturbed his dreams, but he wasn’t sure what it was, and he didn’t really care enough to wake up and investigate the source of it.

Until he heard it once more.

Liam released his grip on Elsa’s waist as he pushed himself up behind her, flicking on the light beside their bed.

“What’s wrong?” she mumbled sleepily.

“Nothing,” he whispered back, bending to press a kiss to her forehead. “Go back to sleep, Sweetheart.” He suspected that Elsa was already dreaming peacefully before he’d finished speaking.

Liam eased his feet over the side of the bed and reached for the baseball bat in the corner of the room before he quietly padded his way out of it. The noise he’d heard before was louder in the hallway, and clearly coming from downstairs, so he carefully made his way over to the darkened staircase. Relying on muscle memory, he tiptoed his way down each step as silently as he could, swinging his head back and forth as he attempted to locate the source of the disturbance he’d heard.

When he finally hit the floor in the lounge it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dim lighting. Unfortunately, it was a moment too long, as a fist slammed solidly into his chest, doubling him over. While he was winded his attacker gently eased the bat from his grasp, and tossed it across the room to land on the sofa.

Liam brought his own hand up ready to launch a counterattack but was stopped in his tracks at the familiar laugh that was coming from within the darkness.

“Jesus, college might have made you smart, but it’s also made you slow.”

“Killian?” he asked, as he reached out to flick the light switch on the wall, while he tried desperately to catch his breath. “What the hell are you doing here? And why are you breaking into my home in the middle of the night?”

“A guy can’t come and visit his little brother without questions being asked?”

“You broke into my home and assaulted me,” Liam pointed out.

“I was testing your security _and_ your reflexes. Both of which suck, by the way. You should be thankful I’m here, it looks like you’ve forgotten everything Dad ever taught you.”

“Of course I have,” Liam hissed. “Why do you think I left, Killian? I don’t wanna be a part of that life anymore. I’m out.”

“Well, I need you back in,” his brother told him, his expression shifting from the playful banter it had carried before, to something much more serious and darker.

“No,” Liam replied forcefully, as he held his hands up and took a small step back. “I just told you, Killian… I’m _out_.”

“Dad’s missing,” his brother explained.

“Missing, or on a hunt and isn’t answering his phone?”

“ _Missing_ ,” Killian emphasized, but before he could say anything else the brothers were interrupted by a feminine voice calling out, “Liam? Who are you talking to?”

“Yeah, Liam… who’re you talking to?” his brother teased, as he turned his full attention to the beautiful blonde that was making her way down the stairs, and into the room. “You didn’t tell me that you were seeing someone.”

“There are a lot of things I don’t tell you, Killian.”

“Killian?” she asked, as Elsa made her way over to her boyfriend’s side, to wrap her arm through his. “This is your brother?”

“I’m the much more handsome brother,” he explained. “That’s why Liam likes to keep my existence quiet. I can’t think of why he wouldn’t have mentioned you, though.”

“Elsa,” she introduced, looking up to her boyfriend with a frown creasing her brow. “I’m Elsa. And I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you doing here?”

“It’s lovely to meet you, Elsa. And I’m here for my brother, actually. I need his help with something.”

“I’ve already told you, Killian. I want no part of this,” Liam protested vehemently.

“And I’ve already told you,” his brother parroted back, “Dad’s on a hunting trip… and he hasn’t been home in a few weeks.” The use of the word _weeks_ caught Liam’s attention, but just in case his bother hadn’t fully gotten the message yet, Killian added, “He left his car and his journal behind.”

“He did?”

Liam’s eyes snapped up to meet his brother’s, almost as if to check that Killian was actually telling the truth. What he found there seemed to reassure him that the guy was, and Liam scrubbed a harsh hand over his face as his mind began to race.

“Your dad’s missing?” Elsa worried.

“He’s probably on a bender somewhere,” Killian lied. “I was hoping lover boy here would help me track him down, just to stop me from worrying. I know he’s a grown man and all that, but he’s still family.”

“Of course,” she agreed, turning back to face her boyfriend. “You should go with your brother. Find your dad and make sure he’s okay.”

All of Liam’s resistance seemed to melt under Elsa’s instructions, and Killian watched as the fight drained from his brother’s body.

“Okay,” he reluctantly agreed. “But I have to be back here before Monday. I have an important test to sit that I can’t miss.”

“I’ll have you back before then,” Killian promised. “Scouts honor.”

“You were never in the scouts,” Liam called over his shoulder, as he made his way back to the staircase, so he could pack a small bag for the journey.

“The sentiment still stands,” his brother protested, as he dropped down onto the couch in the lounge, to make himself comfortable while he waited. “And don’t take all night. We both know you pack like a girl. All you really need is clean pants and you’re good to go.”

Elsa snorted out a laugh from where she was still stood in the middle of the room before she decided to turn and follow her boyfriend up the stairs to say their goodbyes in private.

Which left Killian to fish the remote control out from between the sofa cushion, and flick on the television while he waited alone.


	3. Chapter 2

“Just a coffee, please.”

Liam smiled gratefully at the woman stood beside their table, before she took the menus off the brothers and hurried back to the kitchen to place their orders.

“Aren’t you hungry?” Killian asked.

“No. I don’t tend to get hungry in the early hours of the morning. You know, that time of the day when I’m supposed to be sleeping.”

Killian just seemed to shrug off his brother’s comments, as he fished out a familiar looking leather-bound journal from inside his jacket pocket, and slapped it down onto the table between them.

“Dad really left this behind?” Liam picked it up carefully to turn over in his hands. The boys had seen the journal plenty of times before, but neither one of them had ever been allowed to look inside of it.

“Yeah. It’s how I knew he was in trouble.”

Liam could understand that. The book contained everything their father had learned about the thing responsible for the death of their mother. Brennan Jones would never go anywhere without it unless he was forcefully separated from it.

“Have you looked through it yet?” he asked.

“Nope. I figured we could do that together,” his brother explained.

Liam nodded his understanding as he slipped his finger into the edge of the journal to release the catch, before allowing it to fall open. He wasn’t surprised to see a number of articles at the very front of the book, all covering the fire that had broken out in their childhood home, and the subsequent death of their mother. A quick scan of each one told him they all said the same thing.

_Cause unknown._

“Hey, take a look at these.”

Killian slid some more articles over the table for his brother to read. Some had been printed from the internet, and others had been clipped from newspapers. But they all detailed the same thing.

An unexplained house fire that had killed a young mother.

“We weren’t the only ones.”

“It seems like it.” Liam flicked through each of the articles before he laid them out across the table, in some kind of order that made sense to him. “They stretch right across the country,” he pointed out, as he placed one about their mother’s death towards the end of the line. “Dad found twelve identical cases, all _exactly_ one month apart. That can’t be a coincidence, right?”

“One or two, maybe. But twelve…. Twelve’s a goddamned pattern,” Killian agreed, as he helped his brother to gather everything up the moment he spotted their server. The last thing they needed was for a nosy old woman to start asking questions.

“Thanks, Sweetheart,” he told her, as he offered their server a sly smile and a cheeky wink. She set a large plate of bacon and eggs down in front him, before making her way back to the counter with slightly red cheeks.

“Do you ever stop?” Liam scoffed.

“You should try it yourself.” When his brother sighed a little over-dramatically, Killian added, “They remember the smiles and winks more than they remember what I’m wearing, or what I’m talking about, or what color my hair is,” he argued. “It’s a good distraction technique. And completely harmless.”

“If you say so,” Liam mumbled. He watched as his brother pulled the plate of food towards himself and began digging in before he reached for his father’s journal once more.

Brennan had used the small book to keep track of every supernatural creature he had ever encountered, in his quest for information about his wife’s death. A number of the hunts he had detailed Liam had vague memories of, from his childhood. There were also a few monsters that he’d never heard of before, and random sequences of numbers that he couldn’t make sense of.

But there was nothing more about the series of fires Brennan had found.

“There’s nothing in here about his last hunt,” he noted.

“Yep. Why d’ya think I came for you?” Killian asked, around a mouthful of food.

“I thought the two of you were working together.”

“Yeah, well… you know Dad,” his brother said, like that would explain everything.

And in a way, it did.

Liam knew that their father had developed a few issues in the years since their mother had passed, and he knew that Brennan tended to direct his anger at Killian whenever he was feeling particularly low. It wouldn’t have been the first time that his brother had taken off alone, but Liam couldn’t shake the feeling that it might be the last.

“Where d’ya think Dad would have started?” he asked, instead of voicing his opinions on their father’s parenting skills.

“Knowing Dad, I’d say he’d start with the first.”

That made sense.

Even for all of his issues, when it came to leads about who was responsible for Alice’s death, Brennan was nothing but thorough.

“Except… he left behind the car _and_ that,” Killian pointed out, as he tapped the journal with his fork. “Which means that he left fast. The last hunt we were on together is where I found those. And that was in Kentucky. So…”

“It would have been tough for him to get from Kentucky to Washington without a car,” Liam finished for him.

Washington was also on the other side of the country. There was no way the brothers would be able to get to the state and back again, in time for him to sit his exam on Monday morning.

“So, I guess we head to Kentucky?”

“Nah. There’s nothing there,” Killian argued. “I’ve already checked it all out. Whatever Dad was doing, the only things he left behind were the car and his journal. I figured whatever clues he wanted us to follow would be in that.”

“There’s nothing in here, Killian. Just a bunch of random numbers.”

“Lemme see?”

Liam flipped to the last page that had anything written on it and passed the book back over to his brother. Killian seemed to take a moment to contemplate the series of numbers that were written there while he finished the last of his bacon before his eyes lit up with a theory.

“What?”

He didn’t bother answering his brother. Instead, Killian pulled out his phone and tapped away on the screen for a moment, before finally turning it around to show Liam the result.

“They’re not random numbers. They’re coordinates.”


	4. Chapter 3

**Jefferson, New York**

“Are you sure that this is the right place?” Liam asked, as he stepped out of the car and pushed the door shut behind himself.

“According to the GPS, these are the exact coordinates that Dad left us,” Killian explained, casting a look around their surroundings. It took him a moment to spot the building hidden behind the diner, but when he did, his eyes lit up with his excitement. “Hey, Liam. Over there.”

His little brother craned his head around to see what Killian was looking at and groaned a little when he saw the partially illuminated sign in the distance.

“It couldn’t have been a hotel?”

“Hotels ask too many questions,” his brother reminded him, while he checked to make sure that the road was clear, before crossing it at a jog.

Liam took a moment just to consider his very limited options before he sighed and took off after Killian. “Do you even have a plan?” he asked.

“Yep. I’m gonna tell them the truth.”

“The truth? That our dad might have been captured by some kind of supernatural being, and we’re here looking for clues on how to save him?”

Killian waited until they were both on the same side of the road before he turned to level his brother with a withering glare. “No, Dumbass. I’m gonna tell them we’re looking for our dad. They don’t need to know anything more than that. Jesus, you really have forgotten everything that we taught you.”

“I’ve already told you, Killian, I don’t want anything more to do with this. The moment we find Dad, I’m done. I’m going back to Boston, back to my girlfriend, and back to my life.”

“Yeah, yeah. I get it. You’re only here because you _have_ to be. You know, you could at least act like you’re enjoying spending time with your big brother, Liam. Would that really kill ya?”

Before Liam could utter a word in protest, his brother squared his shoulders and strode off confidently in the direction of the office for the cheap motel they’d found.

When he pushed through the front door, Killian’s expression settled easily back into that of the charming young rogue women seemed to love, as he aimed a flirtatious smirk at the middle-aged woman behind the desk.

“Hello… Janice,” he greeted, sidling up to lean against the counter as he turned the full force of his smile down on her.

Janice flicked a bored glance up at the two men who had entered the building, and then back down to her computer before her eyes flew up to settle on Killian’s face.

“H… Hi,” she stuttered out.

“I’m wondering if you can help me at all?” he continued, as he leaned in a little closer. “My brother and I are looking for our father. He gets a little lost and confused at times, poor guy. The last time we heard from him he said he was staying here, but he’s not answering the door or his phone. You haven’t seen him, have you?”

Killian pulled out his own phone and loaded up a picture that he’d taken with Brennan for this very purpose, before turning it around to show the clearly flustered woman behind the desk.

“Oh… oh, yes,” she declared, when she eventually managed to pull her eyes away from Killian’s face. “He was here a few weeks back. But he left in a hurry, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“That sounds like Dad,” Killian commiserated. “Did he leave anything behind at all?”

“A few things. He paid for the month up-front, so we haven’t really touched his room yet. We figured he’d be back before his time was up.”

“You don’t happen to have a spare key I could use, do you?” he asked, batting his lashes a little harder to try and sway her over to their side. “The chances are he left clues there as to where he went, and my brother and I can clean it out for you before we leave.”

For a moment, Liam thought that his brother’s charms might not have worked as well as he’d have liked, as the woman seemed to hesitate, before finally reaching back for a key to room seven.

“Don’t tell anyone about this,” she implored, as she handed it over. “I could lose my job.”

“Your secret is completely safe with us, Janice.”

The moment Killian had the key safely in his palm he spun on his heels and strode straight out of the office. Liam offered the flustered older woman a small smile of thanks, before hurrying after his big brother.

“Do you honestly think that you’re going to find anything _here_?” he asked. They both knew Brennan Jones well enough to understand that he would _never_ leave obvious signs of what he was doing, where they could fall into the hands of an innocent bystander.

“Dad left these coordinates for a reason, Liam. There must be _something_ here, even if it’s not obvious.”

Killian stopped outside of the door to room seven and pressed his ear to the wood for a moment, to check for noise inside. Even though he was certain that the room was vacant, he still pulled a small handgun from the waistband of his jeans, before he slid the key into the lock.

“Seriously?” Liam scoffed. “Now you’re carrying guns too?”

“We _always_ carry guns,” his brother reminded him. “Don’t worry, I’ve had plenty of practice over the years. I haven’t yet killed anyone who wasn’t already dead to begin with.”

Somehow, Killian’s words didn’t fill Liam with comfort. But he didn’t protest any further either. They both knew just how dangerous their father’s line of work could be. Being prepared was the best tool they had in their arsenal.

As Killian pushed open the door he raised his weapon, before reaching out to flick on the lights. But the room looked as empty as it sounded. He took a moment to check inside of the small bathroom, before he ushered his little brother inside, and closed the door behind them both.

“See? There’s nothing here.” Liam gestured around himself at the empty space, but something in the back of his mind was telling him that the room was all wrong. He watched as his brother’s face creased with his own concern, while he tucked his gun away once more. “What?”

“I know you’ve tried hard to block out your childhood, but does anything about _this_ -” Killian gestured at the neatly made bed and the clean sides “-feel strange to you?”

It took a moment for Liam to make the connection, but when he did, that feeling of wrong that had settled into the back of his mind flared again. “It’s too clean,” he stated.

“Yeah. _Way_ too clean for both a sleazy motel and for Dad. Almost like someone tried to hide something so that someone else wouldn’t be able to find a trace of it.”

Liam cast his gaze around the room, searching for anything that looked out of place. His father might have been an expert at keeping secrets, but if he’d left the co-ordinates for the motel in his journal, then that meant that he’d have left _something_ for the boys to find there.

They just had to know where to look for it.

While Killian made his way through to the bathroom to check for anything that could have been hidden there, Liam searched for any grates set in the walls, or safes under the counters, as he made his way around to the small closet in the room.

When he opened the doors, nothing immediately jumped out at him as being out of place, but all of his instincts were telling him that he was looking in the right spot. So Liam pulled out his phone and switched on the light, to shine it around the small space.

“Killian. In here,” he called out, as his eyes landed on the handful of stray fibers, sticking up oddly from the carpet on the floor. “I think I’ve found it.”


	5. Chapter 4

Killian rolled again on the lumpy mattress, the springs screaming in protest as he did before he settled back into the dream he was having.

It was the same one he’d had before. The same dream he had experienced at least once a month, for as long as he could remember. But Killian had no idea what it meant.

He was always in complete darkness when it began. The occasional flashes of red light would illuminate grotesque scenes that changed every time. But the end result was always the same. Something would come for him out of the darkness, something he couldn’t see, snapping at his heels as it chased him around and around until his exhaustion finally won, and that something took him down.

The next moment he’d find himself chained to something - a wall, or a rack, or a bed - as something else with twisted features and dark eyes tried to extract as much pain from him as they possibly could. Just when he’d think he could take no more, Killian’s world would be flooded with light.

Something soft and ethereal would envelop him in its embrace, pulling him from the darkness until he realized that he was safe once more.

That was usually the point where Killian would wake from his dream, drenched in sweat and panting like he’d run a marathon.

But that night, when the light came for him, something changed. When he was once again shrouded in that familiar embrace of love and acceptance, the light whispered something to him.

No… that wasn’t quite right…. the light wasn’t whispering something _to_ him. It was whispering something _about_ him.

**“Killian Jones is saved!”**

* * *

“Morning, Love. Can I get a cup of strong coffee and one of your breakfasts with extra bacon, please?”

The waitress fluttered her lashes in Killian’s direction while his brother rolled his eyes to the sky before she finally turned her attention to Liam.

“I’ll have a coffee and a croissant, please?”

She scribbled the order down onto the dirty notepad in her hands and flashed Killian another seductive smile, before hurrying back towards the kitchen.

“A croissant? Seriously? You can’t have breakfast without bacon.”

“You know it might do you some good to have breakfast without bacon every once in a while,” Liam told his brother. “All that grease can’t be doing your arteries any good.”

“I’m as healthy as a horse. I think I proved that when I kicked your ass back in Boston.”

Liam didn’t say anything else, but the look on his face told his older brother that he felt like he’d come away from that encounter with the upper hand.

“So… do you really think Dad’s in Lebanon?” he asked, as he flicked through the file Brennan had left hidden for his boys to find. While there hadn’t been any details in the notes he’d left, both boys were convinced that their dad had _finally_ gotten a solid lead on the thing that had killed their mother.

He just hadn’t detailed what exactly that thing was.

“I do.” Killian nodded his head firmly to show Liam just how sure he was of that. “If he’s not, then he’s definitely been there. Which means that we need to be there too.”

“ _If_ he’s not, then I need to go back home, Killian.” When his brother’s eyes snapped up to meet his, Liam held out a hand to halt any tirade that was building in his mind. “I know you’re worried, but I can’t just throw away my life to follow clues Dad’s left all over the country, Killian. I have a life back in Boston. One that I love. I can’t just leave it behind. I can’t do that to Elsa.”

“So you’d rather go back to your girlfriend than look for your father? You know, the man who raised you?”

“Dad didn’t raise me, Killian. You did. You know that. That’s the only reason I’m here right now. Dad made it clear I was no longer a part of this family when I left for college. I’m here because of you, Killy. But surely you can understand why I _have_ to get back? You always said that you wished we’d had a normal life when we were kids. I have that now. _You_ could have that too. You could come back to Boston with me. Elsa and I have a spare room that you can use until you find your feet.”

While Liam and Killian had drifted apart in recent years, the youngest member of the family had to admit that it was nice to be back in his brother’s company once more. He’d missed Killian, more than he ever thought he would.

But as much as he’d missed his brother, Liam hadn’t missed life on the road, bouncing from shitty motel to shitty motel, as they ate in cheap diners. So if he could tempt his brother back to Boston, and back to a normal life where he wasn’t constantly in danger, then he was certainly going to try.

“People are dying, Liam.”

“People die every day,” his brother snapped.

“Yeah. But not from vampires feeding on them, or vengeful spirit attacks. They don’t _need_ to die from that. So thanks, but no thanks. Because I am _not_ gonna sit in your overpriced apartment; drinking shitty, overpriced, imported beer while your girlfriend watches cookery shows on TV when there are people in this country who need my help.”

Both boys fell silent as their server approached the table with plates of food in each hand, and a promise to be right back with their coffee. But even she could feel the tension bubbling away between them as they faced off across the table.

Liam was the one to break it as he reached for his breakfast pastry and his knife. But Killian was stubborn, just like their father, and he refused to acknowledge his brother’s presence throughout the rest of their meal. Liam only hoped that by the time they were back on the road, Killian would have lightened up a little. If not, the four-hour drive through Pennsylvania was going to be fun.


	6. Chapter 5

**Lebanon, Pennsylvania**

Killian pulled into the parking lot of the first motel he came to in the city and killed the car’s engine. “Wake up, Liam,” he called out cheerfully, reaching over to shake his brother’s shoulders.

Liam grumbled something that sounded like a mild threat before finally prying his eyes open. “Where are we?”

“The Star Motel. I’m sure it will be wonderfully cozy.”

“And why are we here again?”

“Because the best way to find out if something supernatural is going on in the city is to be in the city,” Killian replied slowly. It was something their father had taught them both years ago, and clearly, just another thing to add to the list of life-lessons his brother had conveniently forgotten.

“Let’s go then,” Liam sighed, reaching behind him for the small bag of clothes he had stashed there before they’d left. Killian was already out of the car and headed towards the small office before he had the door closed.

After checking in under fake names with a fake credit card, the brothers retired to their room. But instead of getting some sleep as Liam had hoped, they settled down at the small table by the window to begin researching recent events in the city. They were looking for anything that could possibly fall into the category of unexplained that would have drawn their father’s attention.

It didn’t take long for Liam’s searches to turn up some results.

“Hey, Killian… I think I’ve found something,” he said, as he turned his laptop around to show his brother the news articles that he’d discovered. There were a number of different local outlets reporting on the sudden murder spree that had recently taken place in a nearby town. A local priest had snapped and killed six before he’d finally been caught.

“It says here that he claims he was possessed?” Killian flicked a look up to his brother that clearly communicated his disbelief on that subject.

“Did Dad ever mention anything to you about possession before?” Liam asked.

“Nope. He talked about spirits, vampires, and a few different beasts, but never possession. Do any of the articles say what they think he was possessed by?”

Liam pulled the laptop back over to his side of the table and quickly skimmed through each of the articles that he’d managed to find. Most wrote the priest’s claims off as a symptom of psychosis, but one small town paper detailed some of the exact ramblings the man was quoted as giving to the authorities.

“He says he was possessed by a demon,” Liam said, his own tone reflecting his skepticism on the matter. “It can’t be true though, can it?”

“Either way, I think we need to do some digging,” Killian pointed out. It could just be that the man was seriously ill and truly believed that the voice inside of his head was that of a demon. But Killian had seen many unbelievable sights throughout the years, and he wasn’t willing to write this off without giving it further investigation.

“And how do you plan on doing that?”

“The same way we always do,” Killian told his brother. “We find out who the victims were and see if we can get close to anyone they knew. Someone in that town has to know something about what happened, even if it is just to tell us that he displayed signs of mental illness long before he snapped.”

Liam sighed as he jotted down the names of the victims and then pulled up a new browser window to start his research on them. He’d always been better at the nerdy side of their investigations, while his brother was more adept at the more practical issues that arose on a hunt. But it had been years since he’d last dug into the lives of other people, and Liam was finding his skills in that department a little rusty.

“Do you really think this is what brought Dad to the city?” he asked after a moment of strained silence.

“I dunno, but it’s worth looking into, even if it wasn’t. If there really is something in this town that can possess humans, then a lot of people are gonna end up dying if we don’t find it and take it out.”

Killian pulled his father’s journal from his bag and began thumbing through the different cases that Brennan had detailed inside of it. He couldn’t ever remember his dad mentioning possession before, but that didn’t mean that Brennan had never encountered it himself.

When the journal proved to be of no use to their case, Killian opened up his own browser window and typed **Demons** into the blank field before hitting search. There were thousands of links to articles involving the word ‘demon,’ but the more that Killian read, the more his stomach twisted itself in knots.

While Brennan had always maintained that the internet was full of lies and misdirection when it came to the supernatural world, Killian didn’t quite support his father’s beliefs. Sure, there was a lot of bullshit on there that he fully blamed movies like _Twilight_ and _Hocus Pocus_ for, but buried amongst that shit was some truly helpful information. You just had to know where to look for it.

And Killian had become an expert at knowing where to look for it.

The first few pages were full of hits that linked back to popular songs or movies, but as he made his way further through the results, Killian found more and more sites discussing the origin of demons and detailing their attributes. While those were definitely in the minority, the information they carried seemed to be similar from site to site. In Killian’s past experience he knew that was either because the same person had written each piece, or it was because every individual had experienced the same situations with that particular creature.

“What did you find?” Liam asked, flicking a glance over his own screen at his brother’s pale face.

“A whole lot of… _something_.” Killian took a moment to finish skimming his way down the page he’d been reading before he lifted his own eyes to meet his brother’s concerned gaze. “I think this might worth investigating, Liam. There are _a lot_ of the usual sites reporting demonic possession in recent years. And all of it sounds similar to the case with our priest here in town. They all seem to share a common theory too.”

“Which is?”

“There’s a much higher purpose involved in all of this.” Killian turned his own screen around to show his brother the map that one of their fellow hunters had uploaded to his website, and the accompanying theory about what those demonic possessions could mean.

“You don’t actually think someone’s trying to open a door to hell, do you?” Liam scoffed.

“Well… stranger things have happened.”


	7. Chapter 6

Killian had just closed his car door when he felt it. That prickling along the back of his neck that told him he was being watched.

He turned slowly, hoping to catch whoever it was but found the street behind him empty. Even the windows in the houses were dark and bare. But Killian had been hunting long enough to know the signs. Just because there wasn’t anyone around to watch him, didn’t mean there wasn’t _something_ lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“Are you coming?”

“Uh… yeah. Just gimme a minute,” he called back, as he made his way around the car. While none of the research they’d done the night before had given them a reason to be suspicious that morning, Killian couldn’t shake the feeling of unease that had settled in his gut. So he made a quick stop at the trunk of his car to grab his favorite gun, before jogging over the road to catch up to where his brother was already stood.

“Is everything okay?” Liam asked, as the two men fell into step beside each other.

“Yeah, I just uh… keep your eyes open, okay? Something feels off here.”

“Do you think this is all connected to Dad?”

“It’d be a hell of a coincidence if it weren’t,” Killian mused. But stranger things had certainly happened. “Just stay on guard. We have no idea what we might be walking into today.”

Liam nodded his agreement before reaching out to flick the latch on the gate of the house in front of them. The two men fell silent as they made their way up the neatly kept garden path to knock on the front door.

“Hi there, Ma’am. My name is Detective Young and this is my partner, Detective Slade,” Killian explained, as he fished one of his fake badges from his pocket. “We were wondering if you had a moment to talk about your brother?”

The woman stood on the other side of the door looked a little confused to see the detectives outside of her home, but she quickly nodded her head and stepped to one side, pulling the door open wide in invitation. “Sure, come on it,” she told them.

The guys made their way into the house carefully and waited to be shown through to the living room before taking a seat at opposite ends of the sofa. Their host made sure to offer them snacks and drinks before she reluctantly dropped down into the only free seat in the room and asked, “What is it that you wanted to talk about?”

“Your brother was one of the victims of Reverend Martin’s attack, is that correct?” Liam asked carefully. Knowing their luck, the person they were looking for had already left the state and they were sitting in the home of some random stranger.

“That’s right,” she agreed, as tears sprang to her eyes.

“The police report said that you were with your brother at the time of the attack, but you somehow managed to escape.”

“Yes,” she confirmed, as her tears began spilling over.

Killian reached for the box of tissues on the coffee table and handed them to her as his brother continued with his line of questioning.

“Would you be able to tell us a little more about that day?” Liam asked gently.

“I’ve already given my statement to the police,” she told him, before loudly blowing her nose.

“I know, but we’d like to hear it from you again, if that’s okay? It’s possible that you might be able to recall more details now that you’ve had some time to process everything,” Liam explained patiently.

The woman blew her nose again as she took a few moments to compose herself. Liam and Killian gave her all the time that she needed. They’d both been exposed to the supernatural world at a young age, and there were still sights that shocked them to their core. They couldn’t even begin to imagine how tough it would be for someone on the outside, especially when that someone had just lost a person close to them.

“We uh… we met for choir practice on Wednesday evening, like we always do,” she began calmly. “Jason picks me up on his way past the house. Everything seemed so normal.” She paused for a moment again to gather her thoughts. “It was uh… it was at the end of the night when it happened. We’d stayed behind to help the Reverend clean up. One minute Jason was stacking chairs… the next… he was on the floor with blood pouring from his head.”

Her tears were flowing freely now, and in her efforts to grab for another tissue she managed to knock the box off the table.

“It’s okay, I’ve got it,” Killian assured her, as he reached down to pick them up and then passed a few more over to the clearly distraught woman.

“I ran to help him and then felt something hit the back of my head. I didn’t really see much after that. It was all so fuzzy. All I remember is the guy that saved me. He charged into the room and threw something at Reverend Martin. Then there was this black smoke… I guess something must have caught fire? I think the guy dragged me outside but I don’t really remember it. The next thing I knew I was waking up in the hospital, and they told me that my brother was dead.”

She dissolved into floods of tears once again and Liam reached out an awkward hand to try and offer the poor woman some form of comfort as he turned a questioning look upon his brother. Killian nodded his head once before he spoke up again.

“I hate to do this while you’re upset, Ma’am, but do you remember anything else about the other man at all? A name, maybe? Or what color hair he had?”

“Dark. He had dark hair. But I don’t remember anything else. I’m sorry. He uh… he saved my life, though. So if you find him, will you thank him for me please?”

“Of course,” Killian assured her, as he and Liam rose gracefully from their seats. “Thank you for your time this morning. We’ll see ourselves out.”

The brothers waited until they were both safely back inside of the car and had driven away from the street they’d been visiting before they spoke again.

“Do you think it was Dad?” Liam asked, turning to face his older brother.

“Who else could it have been?”

**Author's Note:**

> **Thanks for reading**


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